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Fighter aircraft headdress 2000

Artwork Fighter aircraft headdress this artwork made of Hibiscus wood, synthetic polymer paint, nails, PVC container and PVA fixative, created in 2000-01-01
Accession No.
2001.027
Date Created
2000
Gallery location
Not on public display
Department
Indigenous Australian Art
Dimensions A
33 x 58 x 50cm
Media Category
Sculpture
Secondary Media Category
wood
Medium
Hibiscus wood, synthetic polymer paint, nails, PVC container and PVA fixative
Place Created
Mulgrave Island Badu Island
Credit Line
Purchased 2001. Queensland Art Gallery Foundation Grant

James Eseli was one of many Torres Strait Islander children taken to the safety of Waiben (Thursday Island) during World War Two. From there, he saw bomber and fighter aircraft lit by powerful searchlights as they took off from Ngurupai (Horn Island) towards New Guinea. In 1988, he choreographed a story dance in which performers interpreted a raid on Japanese targets. This unique dance is regularly performed on social and ceremonial occasions – especially at tombstone openings, held when an ornate headstone is installed as a final ritual for a deceased family member. The dancers move in an arrowhead formation, wearing carved and painted softwood plane sculptures on their heads.
 

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© James Eseli Estate

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Exhibitions featuring this object

A view of Arthur Koo-ekka Pambegan Jr's Flying Fox Story Place 2002–03, installed at the entrance to 'My Country', GOMA, July 2013 / © Estate of the artist / Photograph: M Sherwood, QAGOMA

‘My Country’

Jun 2013 - Oct 2013

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